Engineering Models for Everyday Things

回形针、铅笔和铝罐等日常用品被认为是理所当然的，但它们的设计和生产在工作公差、质量控制和制造经济性方面对工程师提出了巨大的挑战，更不用说美学和人体工程学了。因此，这些简单的人工制品提供了理想的案例研究，可以在已经熟悉且易于访问的真实世界环境中向学生介绍各种工程概念、原理和问题。在这个项目中，将开发各种简单物体的分析和计算机模型，如回形针，并结合桌面实验，向学生介绍工程设计、分析和开发的方法和局限性。最简单的模型可供一年级学生使用，但必须包含足够的限制性假设和简化，以使它们也适用于后续课程的改进、扩展和进一步使用。分析和计算机模型，以及使用实际回形针和在项目范围允许的范围内使用其他制造物品的补充桌面实验，将适用于介绍和指导侧重于重新设计和改进所探索的文物的个人和小组设计练习。除了开发和使用用于设计和重新设计的模型外，这个项目还将开发更大的背景来提出设计问题，以便学生将接触到产品实现的其他方面，包括营销和销售方面的考虑。这样，工程学的分析方面就不会出现在真空中。最后，在这个项目中开发的教学资源将以文章的形式呈现，以便在enqineerinq课程中广泛传播和使用。

Everyday objects like paper clips, pencils, and aluminum cans are taken for granted, yet their design and production present tremendous challenges to engineers in terms of working tolerances, quality control, and economy of manufacture, not to mention aesthetics and ergonomics. Thus, these simple artifacts provide ideal case studies for introducing students to a wide variety of engineering concepts, principles, and problems in already familiar and readily accessible real-world contexts. In this project, a variety of analytical and computer models of simple objects like paper clips will be developed, in conjunction with desk-top experiments, to introduce students to the methods and limitations of design, analysis, and development in engineering. The simplest models will be accessible to firstyear students, yet will necessarily involve enough restrictive assumptions and simplifications to make them suitable also for refinement, extension, and further use in subsequent courses. The analytical and computer models, as well as the complementary desk-top experiments employing actual paper clips and, to the extent permitted by the scope of the project, other manufactured objects, will be suitable to introduce and guide individual and group design exercises focused on the redesign and improvement of the artifacts explored. In addition to the development and use of models for design and redesign, this project will also develop larger contexts into which to present the design problem, so that students will be exposed to other aspects of product realization, including marketing and sales considerations. In this way, the analytical aspects of engineering will not be presented in a vacuum. Finally, the pedagogical resources developed in this project will be presented in articles for wide dissemination and use throuqhout the enqineerinq curriculum.